Constitution Index · Executive Order 14371 · 2025-12-18
Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2025, and December 26, 2025
Latest official status (2026-10-19): no_disposition_noted
Constitutional grade
A
Constitutional
Routine Article II workforce-management order closing executive offices on December 24 and 26, 2025 with pay protections and national-security exceptions. It stays within presidential authority, infringes no rights, takes no property, and consolidates no new power.
Article II Article II, Section 1 Article II, Section 3 Article I, Section 1 Amendment I Amendment X Amendment V
SI-generated grade · passed automated checks (real Constitution citation, language rules) · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology · Report an error: hello@valuesforamerica.com
The five checks
Enumerated powers · passes
The President acts under Article II, Section 1 vesting of executive power and Article II, Section 3 to take care that the laws be faithfully executed and to supervise the executive branch workforce. Directing office closures and excused absence for executive departments, implemented through the Office of Personnel Management and consistent with 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103, is within that authority and creates no new legislative power in violation of Article I, Section 1.
Bill of Rights · passes
The order closes federal offices and excuses federal employees around Christmas Day, with exceptions for national security and public need. It does not restrict speech, religion, press, assembly under the First Amendment, does not implicate the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, or Eighth Amendments, and creates no rights restriction. No Bill of Rights provision is infringed.
Individual liberty · passes
The order restricts no private person, property, speech, labor, or belief. It directs only federal departments and federal employees, excuses duty with pay protections, and retains essential operations for defense and public need. No compelling-justification burden is triggered because no individual sovereignty is limited.
Decentralization · passes
This is internal management of the federal workforce, the minimum necessary level. (1) Individuals cannot set federal office hours. (2) Local communities cannot manage federal personnel. (3) States cannot direct federal departments. (4) It does not consolidate new power upward; it exercises existing Article II supervision and preserves agency-head discretion under Section 2, consistent with the Tenth Amendment.
Due process and takings · passes
Procedural due process under the Fifth Amendment is satisfied: the order gives advance public notice via the Federal Register, applies prospectively, preserves pay and leave under 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and EO 11582, and is subject to applicable law and appropriations. No property is taken without just compensation and no adjudication or presumption of innocence is bypassed. Section 5(c) expressly denies creation of enforceable rights.
Provenance
- Federal Register: Executive Order 14371 · fetched 2026-10-03 · official page ↗
Version history · never overwritten
| Grade | Graded | Rubric | Source hash | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A · #32 | 2026-10-08 | vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0 | c743d4cfe45a | current |
Cite this
Values for America. “Constitutional grade: Executive Order 14371, Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2025, and December 26, 2025.” VFA Constitution Index, grade 32 (rubric vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0), graded October 8, 2026. https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution-index/grades/32. Accessed 2026-10-19.
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